God’s Messenger: Meeting Kids’ Needs

Copyright © 2006 Ellen G. White® Estate, Inc. Freedom From Fear: 3rd & 4th 1

Freedom From Fear GRADE LEVEL: 3, 4 OBJECTIVE: To lead students to know that Jesus in our lives can free us from fear. In This Lesson Plan:

• Audio Story: “Answering the Call” (4:35 minutes) - Summary (for teacher) - Introduction (to read to students before playing the audio) - Discussion questions (after playing the audio)

• Story Time: “Every Last Drop” (read to the students)

- Discussion questions - Class activity - Worksheets (2) + Teacher’s KEYS

• Class Project • Ellen G. White Quotes

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

(after playing the audio)

1. How do you think James felt when he heard the warning to stay away from the schoolhouse?

2. What would you have done? 3. Have you ever seen or heard an

angry group of people? Describe the way they act.

4. Do you think James was aware that his life could be in danger?

5. Who was the man who came to help James?

6. Did James know that God was going to rescue him this way? Why was he not afraid?

AUDIO STORY

“Answering the Call” (4:35 minutes)

SUMMARY (for teacher): James White travels to a town and begins a series of evangelistic meetings at the schoolhouse. At the end of his first meeting, a man stands up and challenges him. He is furious with James’s teachings and threatens to break up future meetings. James refuses to be intimidated by the threats and returns to preach the next night. An angry mob surrounds the schoolhouse and begins shouting and throwing snowballs into the building. But James continues to talk to the crowd as best as he can, and by the end of the meeting, nearly a hundred people stand to request prayer. As James exits the schoolhouse, the mob grows louder. Suddenly a man appears by James’s side and escorts him through the mob. After they pass through the mob, James turns to thank the man, but the man is not there. INTRODUCTION (to read to students before playing the audio): James White had traveled to a town and was holding

God’s Messenger: Meeting Kids’ Needs

Copyright © 2006 Ellen G. White® Estate, Inc. Freedom From Fear: 3rd & 4th 2

evangelistic meetings at the local schoolhouse. Some people became very upset with James White because of the message he was preaching. They threatened him, telling him to stay away. What should he do? There were many people who wanted to hear God’s Word, but if he showed up at the schoolhouse again, there would be an angry mob waiting for him.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

(after reading the story)

1. How would you feel if God told you He would dry up every drop of water in the entire ocean before He would let you drown?

2. What are some Bible verses that promise God is watching over us? Do we need to be afraid?

3. Why do you think God saved Ellen’s life? (Her work for Him had just begun. Students may also think of other reasons.)

4. What do you think Ellen told the discouraged family?

CLASS ACTIVITY Divide the class into two groups. Assign each group one of the stories from the Bible when a storm frightened Jesus’ disciples. (Mark 4:35-41; Matthew 14:25-32.) Give each group about ten minutes to read the story and prepare a short skit. Then perform the skits for each other.

WORKSHEETS

“Jesus Cares for You”

(Crossword Puzzle)

Directions: Unscramble the words in the word bank and place each one in the crossword. Answer: See teacher’s KEY for Freedom From Fear: Worksheet 3-A.

“Freedom From Fear” (Unscramble, Word Search, Hidden Message)

Directions: Unscramble the words to

STORY TIME

“Every Last Drop” Teenaged Ellen Harmon and her older sister, Sarah, clung tightly to the boat so that they wouldn’t be tossed overboard. It was late afternoon, and from Fairhaven, Massachusetts they had sailed down the bay, past the point, and out into the ocean when the wind had begun to blow, stronger and stronger. Dark clouds quickly covered the sky. Lightning flashed, and thunder roared! Rain beat down upon them in torrents. The little sailboat rocked back and forth. Only two other people were on board with Ellen and Sarah: a lady who had come with them and Mr. Heman Gurney, an Adventist blacksmith who had agreed to take them to a nearby island so that they could visit a family that was sad and discouraged. The storm had come up unexpectedly, and now it seemed as if the boat would sink at any moment. Night time fell upon them, and the storm continued to toss them this way and that. Mr. Gurney tried to steer, but he couldn’t control the boat. He didn’t even know where they were because they couldn’t see through the darkness. As Ellen clutched the side of the boat to keep from falling, she prayed, “Dear God, please save us from drowning.” And right there, while the winds were shrieking, lightning flashing, thunder crashing, and waves washing over the sides of the boat, drenching Ellen and the others, God gave her a vision. He told her that they were safe. He told her that before He would let her drown, He would dry up every drop of water in the entire ocean! He told Ellen that her work for Him was just beginning. The vision ended, and Ellen once again heard the storm all around her and felt the boat plunging into the waves, but she was no longer afraid. She knew they were in God’s hands. Ellen quickly told the others what God had shown her, and immediately their fears vanished. They knew that the Creator of

God’s Messenger: Meeting Kids’ Needs

Copyright © 2006 Ellen G. White® Estate, Inc. Freedom From Fear: 3rd & 4th 3

discover a message from the book Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing. Then find the words in the word search puzzle. When you are finished, write the unused letters from left to right, starting at the top, to read the rest of the message. Answer:

• Unscramble – “Live in contact with the living Christ.”

• Word Search – See teacher’s KEY for Freedom From Fear: Worksheet 3-A for answers.

• Hidden Message – “He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go.”

CLASS PROJECT

List some phobias on the board, and have the students guess what they mean. Here are some examples:

• acousticophobia (fear of noise),

• cyclophobia (fear of bicycles), • epistaxiophobia (fear of

nosebleeds), • equinophobia (fear of horses), • hypsiphobia (fear of height), • melissophobia (fear of bees), • olfactophobia (fear of smells), • potamophobia (fear of rivers

or running water), • somniphobia (fear of sleep), • zoophobia (fear of animals).

For more words, visit phobialist.com. Hand out blank sheets of paper, and have each student draw a large circle on the paper. Each student should then choose one of the phobias and illustrate it with a drawing inside the circle with a line or an X through the circle (like the no smoking signs). Then have them choose a Bible promise and write it on the sheet of paper. Here are some examples: Psalm 46:1; Nahum 1:7; Deuteronomy 33:12; Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 16:8; Psalm 112:7. When the students are done, display their drawings around the classroom.

all nature was with them in the terrible storm. The boat was tossing so badly that Mr. Gurney decided to throw the anchor overboard. The anchor hit the water with a splash and began to sink. Down, down, down it went, and after what seemed like a very long time, the anchor finally caught on a rock or something on the bottom of the sea. “The water is shallower here,” Mr. Gurney remarked. “We must be near land.” Cupping his hands to his mouth he called loudly, “Help! Help!” The wind carried his voice away, but Mr. Gurney didn’t give up. “Help! Help!” he called again and again. There were only two houses on the island, and in the home closest to the shore, everyone was asleep—everyone except a little girl. As she lay in bed listening to the wind wailing around the house, she heard a faint, “Help! Help!” Had she imagined it? She listened carefully. There it was again. “Help! Help!” The little girl jumped out of bed and ran to her father’s room. “Father, Father, I think I heard somebody cry for help!” Her father sat up in bed and listened. Then he heard it, too. “Someone is in trouble!” he exclaimed. Quickly he dressed for the storm and ran down the path to his little boat. He untied it and started rowing out to sea in the darkness. “I’m coming!” he shouted. “Where are you? I can’t see you.” “Over here! Over here!” Mr. Gurney shouted back. He kept calling “Over here! Over here!” until the two boats finally met. The man threw one end of a rope to Mr. Gurney and told him to tie it to the sailboat. Then the two men held the boats as close together as possible while the three women climbed into the row boat. Then Mr. Gurney stepped in. It was hard work rowing back to land because the waves were high and strong, but they finally reached the shore. Ellen and her companions had a great story to share with the discouraged family on the island, and everyone was so thankful that their Heavenly Father had saved their lives. They knew that even in the middle of a storm, they didn’t have to be afraid because God was with them.

God’s Messenger: Meeting Kids’ Needs

Copyright © 2006 Ellen G. White® Estate, Inc. Freedom From Fear: 3rd & 4th 4

ELLEN G. WHITE QUOTES

• “Living faith in the Redeemer will smooth the sea of life, and will deliver us from danger in the way that He knows to be best.” The Desire of Ages, p. 336

• “Neither life nor death, height nor depth, can separate us

from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; not because we hold Him so firmly, but because He holds us so fast.” The Acts of the Apostles, p. 553

• “Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more

invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on the merits of the Saviour.” The Ministry of Healing, p. 182

• “Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you

firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan.” Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 119

• “Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small

for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel.” Steps to Christ, p. 100

• “By prayer, by the study of His word, by faith in His

abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that will never let go.” The Ministry of Healing, p. 182

KEY